


Uncharted Stars

by thephilosophersapprentice



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Space Western, F/M, Gen, Past Injury, Space Western - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 00:13:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13224162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thephilosophersapprentice/pseuds/thephilosophersapprentice
Summary: After Tim's injury, they didn't have many options left. Fortunately for the El-Todd-Drake family, the sky is full of unexplored worlds.





	Uncharted Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zabela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zabela/gifts).



Kara stood back, watching Jason haggle with the owner of the bazaar. She had an arm around Tim--Jason’s little brother was still unsteady after the operation. The doctors had all said that Tim would be a little dizzy for the next few weeks--the implants would do that.

Kara shivered slightly in the evening chill. Tim noticed and pulled closer to her, though his body temperature was still normalizing--the metal and crystal hand still sucking more than its fair share of his body heat. Maybe that was why he was leaning against her side--she wasn’t actually cold. The system’s star was a bit cooler and older than the standard green main-sequence stars that humans preferred and Kryptonians required to maintain their powers, but it was still enough to keep her from going back to baseline. Kara wasn’t actually cold.

No more working on corporate ships for them, or even the big cruise liners--especially not after the office had refused to pay for Tim’s operation, or even to pay the settlement after the accident. Tim was only a mechanic apprentice--still treated like a cabin boy, the captain’s personal attendant, rather than a professional in training--not cleared yet to work on the engine. The explosion had cost him a hand, his right eye, and had damaged his inner ears--it was a miracle, the doctors had said, that none of the shrapnel had pierced his brain or his lungs. Kara still remembered how pale Tim had looked, lying perfectly still with gauze taped over his right eye. If Kara turned, she could see the cybernetic glinting in the sun. It had taken most of Jason’s life savings to pay for those cybernetics--the money they’d been saving to buy a home somewhere where the overcrowding had yet to tighten its grip--and though Tim hadn’t said anything, Kara knew he felt guilty still.

The captain of the cruise ship had turned Jason and Tim down--ostensibly because he had enough staff. It was only a fragment of a whisper that Kara had caught-- _ a pity that boy’s not all human any more _ \--but it was enough for all of them.

Kara smiled grimly to herself. If they hadn’t paid in money, the company had paid in labor. Kryptonians were considered critically endangered, worth much more than their weight in gold for heavy lifting, high-risk jobs when given green solar radiation-equivalent light, and there was no way Kara was staying when the company treated the Wayne boys like that. She wrapped an arm around Tim and squeezed him gently. Tim glanced at her and smiled, briefly. The smile didn’t reach his eyes.

Finally, Jason came back toward them, all smiles. “She’s ours,” he said proudly, gesturing to the light freighter on the tarmac. Kara guided Tim up the gangplank, trying to cushion him as he grimaced for a fraction of a second at the phantom pains which his still-healing nerves told him darted through his cybernetic hand. Tim regained his equilibrium quickly and darted up into the ship, already vanishing into its bowels.

Jason smiled at that. “I’m glad he still likes machines, after what happened,” he said.

Kara laughed. “I think he understands them better than people sometimes,” she said. Jason smiled. Kara looked at him, amusement changing to concern.

“How’s your heart?” she asked quietly.

Jason smiled--the same uncomfortable little smile Tim sometimes had when he felt like he was lying with his face, regardless of if he was telling the truth or not.

“Still hurts sometimes,” he admitted. Kara reached up, pulled him down to her height and kissed him.

“I still think you should tell him,” she said quietly.

“He’d just worry,” Jason pointed out, leaning a little more than he normally did on Kara. “I’ll heal, just like he will.”

“I love you,” Kara told him.

Jason nodded slowly, cheer reentering his voice, sounding somewhat forced. “What shall we call her?  _ Freedom _ ?”

“I think--” Kara said, thoughtfully-- “ _ Hope _ .”


End file.
